Endovascular stent grafts are increasingly used to treat aneurysms in the human aorta. As a result, stent grafts are being mated with one another in the aorta. When endovascular stent grafts are joined together in vascular surgery, exsanguination may occur at the interface between the grafts if the modular joints separate. Over time, some modular joints may degenerate and slip, predisposing the aneurysm to a risk of pressurization, rupture, and potential exsanguination. Exsanguination must be minimized to decrease the formation of blood clots and the amount of time the vessel is deprived of blood. A tight seal between the interconnected grafts helps minimize exsanguinations.
Current methods of mating endovascular stent grafts involve installing one device interior to a second device. The overlap area, also known as the seal zone, is facilitated by direct material-to-material contact; that is, the interior mated device (male) has a stent on its interior and the exterior mated device (female) has a stent on its exterior.
This configuration places material against material to gain the greatest surface area of contact as well as taking advantage of the forces of friction between the two fabrics. Current methods for mating devices in the aorta need revision. If devices mated using current methods ever separated, it could lead to device system failure with the repressurization of the aortic aneurysm.
The problem of device disunion has to be addressed, preferably with devices with strengthened mating zones. There is a need in the art to increase force resistance in the seal zones to provide a longer lifespan for the modular endovascular systems.